Here’s the thing about Ozzy: I know he has this tag as being the “godfather of heavy metal” but other than the Sabbath years he’s never really been all that heavy to my ears. Though metal and at the very least hard rock, his solo stuff has always had a more commercial melodic sound so I’ve never really gotten the hype surrounding him being the “Prince of Darkness” (let’s be honest, a lot of his stuff has a pop-metal vibe). I’ve found that throughout most of his career, he’s a mediocre singer who has been lucky enough to almost always be surrounded by talent musicians and songwriters.

Onto the album itself, No More Tears is one of Ozzy’s best selling albums and featured a number of hit singles. For this reason, despite having just recently purchased the album, I’m kind of already sick of it because I know these songs well. “Mama, I’m Coming Home”, “Time After Time” and “No More Tears” are still radio staples in my area after all these years so it’s hard to judge them with a clear mind and say whether they are true album highlights because I’m so sick of both. It’s really the lesser known songs that I find myself enjoying. I think “Desire” and “Hellraiser” are especially strong (Lemmy wrote lyrics for both).

For me, the first OZZY albums are pure heavy metal, not pop metal or hard rock. NO MORE TEARS is more hard rock, yes, but BARK AT THE MOON or DIARY OF A MADMAN have many cool heavy metal songs like OVER THE MOUNTAIN, BARK AT THE MOON, CENTRE OF ETERNITY. OSSMOZIS and the lost couple of OZZY albums are a different thing. Still some good songs on them, but i will always be a die hard fan of his 80s albums and NO MORE TEARS.